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Watercolor Flower Bouquet

Paint a vibrant floral still life with essential skills that will transfer to every watercolor work you create!

Perfectly capture the beauty of delicate petals, bold blossoms and dramatic light with radiant watercolors! Explore color theory with fun exercises in mixing hues to convey mood, and create a monochromatic study to hone your skills in depicting lifelike value and depth. Discover compositional strategies for a scene that engages your viewer, and begin painting with fluid transparent washes. Use wet-on-wet blending to build layers of jewel-toned petals, and apply the drybrush technique for detail and texture in your bouquet. Plus, learn the surprisingly simple ways to correct any problems, and how to crop and frame your work for the best result.

Lesson plan

3:20

Lesson 1. Introduction

Meet your instructor, Mary Murphy, and learn more about watercolor and some of the techniques covered in your class.

14:29

Lesson 2. Watercolor Techniques

Watercolors interact in a variety of ways, depending on how you apply them. Murphy demonstrates how to practice the wet-in-wet, drybrush and blossoms techniques and become familiar with the watercolor medium.

17:24

Lesson 3. Value: Scaling Lights & Darks

Learn how to scale the lights and darks in your work as you paint a monochromatic value study.

27:42

Lesson 4. Color

Murphy takes you on a tour around the color wheel and shows how neutral, adjacent and complementary colors will work together in your painting.

16:17

Lesson 5. Composition

Plan your painting by identifying the masses and shapes in your composition. Murphy helps broaden your awareness of how those masses fall within the painting, adding focus and movement, and drawing the viewer in.

15:10

Lesson 6. Preparing to Paint

Murphy explains how to transfer a drawing to your watercolor paper and lay down a preliminary wash of color to define shadows and light.

18:38

Lesson 7. Developing Your Painting

Your bouquet will begin to take shape as you build up layers of color with a wet-in-wet technique that creates the illusion of depth. Learn how to fix small mistakes and add background color.

22:58

Lesson 8. Finishing Techniques

When is a painting truly finished? Murphy shares some strategies for looking at your work, fine-tuning it and modifying or fixing the parts you're not satisfied with.

"I have taken several Craftsy classes and this is by far my favorite. Mary is an excellent teacher. I have struggled for so long to paint something that didn't look like a kid's art project, and finally I have. I learned so much. Highly recommended." - Labrecque

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Lesson plan

3:20

Lesson 1. Introduction

Meet your instructor, Mary Murphy, and learn more about watercolor and some of the techniques covered in your class.

14:29

Lesson 2. Watercolor Techniques

Watercolors interact in a variety of ways, depending on how you apply them. Murphy demonstrates how to practice the wet-in-wet, drybrush and blossoms techniques and become familiar with the watercolor medium.

17:24

Lesson 3. Value: Scaling Lights & Darks

Learn how to scale the lights and darks in your work as you paint a monochromatic value study.

27:42

Lesson 4. Color

Murphy takes you on a tour around the color wheel and shows how neutral, adjacent and complementary colors will work together in your painting.

16:17

Lesson 5. Composition

Plan your painting by identifying the masses and shapes in your composition. Murphy helps broaden your awareness of how those masses fall within the painting, adding focus and movement, and drawing the viewer in.

15:10

Lesson 6. Preparing to Paint

Murphy explains how to transfer a drawing to your watercolor paper and lay down a preliminary wash of color to define shadows and light.

18:38

Lesson 7. Developing Your Painting

Your bouquet will begin to take shape as you build up layers of color with a wet-in-wet technique that creates the illusion of depth. Learn how to fix small mistakes and add background color.

22:58

Lesson 8. Finishing Techniques

When is a painting truly finished? Murphy shares some strategies for looking at your work, fine-tuning it and modifying or fixing the parts you're not satisfied with.

The instructor

Mary Murphy, Instructor of Watercolor Flower Bouquet

Mary Murphy loved art from a young age, but her initial career path took her in a different direction, towards life as an award-winning speechwriter. After 20 years behind a pen though, she picked a brush back up and the rest is history! She honed her skills training with artists such as Martha Deming and Jim McFarlane, president of the American Watercolor Society, setting up an in-home studio so she could paint nonstop. Her exuberant floral paintings began to accumulate local and national recognition and awards, and now she’s thrilled to bring her passion to the Craftsy community.

Ratings & reviews

Class rating

(42 reviews)

Best Craftsy Class I've Taken

by Terra Simi on April 23, 2015

I'm brand new to watercolour painting, and this was such an excellent first class to take. While I doubt I will be painting much in terms of flowers, this class is a very accessible introduction into all of the basics, composition, materials, techniques and watching Mary paint is so inspirational. This was the most well done class I've taken so far on Craftsy and hope Mary Murphy will do more classes through this forum! Excellent instruction!

I'm brand new to watercolour painting, and this was such an excellent first class to take. While I doubt I will be painting much in terms of flowers, this class is a very accessible introduction into all of the basics, composition, materials, techniques and watching Mary paint is so inspirational. This was the most well done class I've taken so far on Craftsy and hope Mary Murphy will do more classes through this forum! Excellent instruction!

Brava!

by Christine V on April 10, 2015

I have learned so much from your instructions and numerous tips and tricks.

I love how you patiently respond to questions and give detailed answers and feedback to your students' work.

Thank you, Mary, for such an informative and inspiring class!

I have learned so much from your instructions and numerous tips and tricks.

I love how you patiently respond to questions and give detailed answers and feedback to your students' work.

Thank you, Mary, for such an informative and inspiring class!

Fabulous My Craftsy !

by Shawdiane on March 23, 2015

I am so pleased to have found My Craftsy. Although I did a BA arts course with another arts college; I like using My Craftsy as it allows me to focus on one particular genre at a time & learn in great detail. The one to one with your online tutor teaching in your home new techniques is marvellous. Mary responds in great detail & comes across as enjoying what she does 'teaching'. She shows interest in her pupils which is all important for this is why we are enrolling 'to learn' & ...

I am so pleased to have found My Craftsy. Although I did a BA arts course with another arts college; I like using My Craftsy as it allows me to focus on one particular genre at a time & learn in great detail. The one to one with your online tutor teaching in your home new techniques is marvellous. Mary responds in great detail & comes across as enjoying what she does 'teaching'. She shows interest in her pupils which is all important for this is why we are enrolling 'to learn' & she encourages you to open up & ask all the questions you signed up for. You do not get this level of interaction on many other courses out there that charge a lot more money for less & without any one to one tutoring. I will definitely be purchasing more My Crafty courses. I like painting, acrylics, watercolour, drawing, tapestry, sewing techniques & many others. Thank you My Craftsy for inspiring me back into creativity, which I love.

Not at all! Mary Murphy will walk you through a variety of watercolor techniques and encourage you to practice what you've learned with suggested exercises. She encourages a playful, relaxed approach to the medium to achieve a beautiful result.